Global Courant 2023-05-05 14:05:35
A group of India’s most accomplished wrestlers, who have accused the sport’s top official in the country of serial harassment and abuse of female wrestlers, vowed on Friday to continue protesting day and night after a clash two days earlier with the police of India. Delhi.
The protesting wrestlers, including two Olympic medalists and a world champion, have demanded the resignation and arrest of federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They say Mr Singh, 66, has molested at least seven young women, one of whom was a minor, over the course of a decade as of 2012. He called the allegations “baseless”.
The government announced a committee in January to investigate the allegations, but months of inactivity followed – a reflection, protesters say, of Mr Singh’s political connections as a member of parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
When the wrestlers came out with their allegations early this year, they immediately attracted media attention. The performance of one of them, Vinesh Phogat, a world champion, was seen in ‘Dangal’, the highest grossing film in Indian history. Ms. Phogat and the two Olympic medalists – Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik – made the accusations against Mr. Singh on behalf of the seven wrestlers who had reported being harassed.
While the details of the allegations and the identities of the women have been kept private in accordance with Indian law, India’s Supreme Court has acknowledged that they are “serious allegations of sexual harassment”.
“This is a matter of honor for sportswomen,” Ms Malik said. “We bring medals at an international level. If we are not safe in this country, what can we think of the future of other girls?”
The Delhi Police, known in recent years for acting quickly in many cases, sometimes on the basis of a single tweet, has taken a different approach to the wrestlers’ case. It was only after lawyers representing the wrestlers petitioned the Supreme Court that the Delhi Police filed an official report. The army in Delhi is overseen by the country’s interior minister, Amit Shah, a top BJP official.
After the government announced the Commission of Inquiry, the protesters withdrew from their vigil in the center of the capital in January. But they returned on April 23, furious at the lack of action. The protest has grown to include women’s rights advocates, and members of opposition parties have taken up the wrestlers’ cause.
Anurag Thakur, the BJP sports minister, said on Friday that the wrestlers’ demands were met and that they should allow the investigation to be completed.
The BJP’s top leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has remained silent on the matter, as has Mr. Shah. On Sunday, Mr Modi celebrated the 100th episode of his radio program ‘Mann Ki Baat’, which can be loosely translated as ‘words from the heart’, in part by reminding the nation of his work to advance the position of women and girls in India. strengthen.
Ms Malik, the Olympian, this week called on Mr Modi to hold Mr Singh to account. Mr Modi “invites us to his house when we win medals and gives us great respect and calls us his daughters,” she said on Wednesday. “Today we call on him to listen to our ‘mann ki baat’.”
That same night, Delhi police clashed with the protesters, as the wake site erupted in shoving and screaming. The protesters said they were attacked by police when they tried to bring baby cots to the site. Police deny attacking the protesters.
After the clash, the wrestlers threatened to return their medals in protest. The protesters have put up banners showing the dozens of medals the young athletes have won for India, compared to the 38 criminal charges filed over the years against Mr Singh, a strong politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh. (Only four charges remain on the books.)
